Oklahoma § 74-166.5 - Commission for Rehabilitation Services - Powers and

§ 74-166.5. Commission for Rehabilitation Services - Powers and

duties - Trust for the School for the Blind and School for the Deaf.

A. The Commission for Rehabilitation Services shall have the

powers and duties to:

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 74. State Government

1. Adopt bylaws and promulgate rules for the regulation of its

affairs and the conduct of its business;

2. Formulate policies and adopt rules for the effective

administration of the duties of the State Department of

Rehabilitation Services;

3. Adopt an official seal;

4. Establish an office;

5. Sue and to be sued, subject to the provisions of The

Governmental Tort Claims Act;

6. Make and enter into all contracts necessary or incidental to

the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers;

7. Purchase or lease equipment, furniture, materials and

supplies, and incur such other expenses as may be necessary to

maintain and operate the Commission and the State Department of

Rehabilitation Services, or to discharge its duties and

responsibilities or to make any of its powers effective;

8. Acquire by purchase, lease, gift, solicitation of gift or by

any other manner, and to maintain, use and operate or to contract

for the maintenance, use and operation of or lease of any and all

property of any kind, real, personal or mixed or any interest

therein unless otherwise provided by Section 166.1 et seq. of this

title; provided that, all contracts for real property shall be

subject to the provisions of Section 63 of this title;

9. Appoint such officers, agents and employees as it deems

necessary to operate and maintain the Commission and to prescribe

their duties and to fix their compensation;

10. Perform such other acts as shall be necessary for the

accomplishment of the purposes of Section 166.1 et seq. of this

title; and

11. Serve as trustee for the trust created in subsection B of

this section for the benefit of the Oklahoma School for the Blind

and the Oklahoma School for the Deaf.

B. 1. The Commission for Rehabilitation Services is hereby

authorized and directed to create a trust into which all real

property held by the Commission for the benefit of the Oklahoma

School for the Blind and the Oklahoma School for the Deaf shall be

transferred.

2. The property placed in trust:

a.

shall be held for the sole benefit of the Oklahoma

School for the Blind and the Oklahoma School for the

Deaf,

b.

if not needed for use by the schools, may be leased or

rented to others and all income received from such

leases or rentals shall be payable to the Commission

and deposited in the Rehabilitation Services

Disbursing Fund for use by the Commission to fulfill

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 74. State Government

the purposes of the Oklahoma School for the Blind and

the Oklahoma School for the Deaf, and

c.

may be sold if the commissioners, acting as trustees,

determine that the sale is in the best interest of the

Oklahoma School for the Blind or the Oklahoma School

for the Deaf. The proceeds from the sale of the

property shall be held in the trust corpus and shall

be invested by the State Treasurer. Income derived

from the corpus shall be used by the Commission for

the purposes of the Oklahoma School for the Blind and

the Oklahoma School for the Deaf.

3. The corpus of the trust may be disbursed only upon

legislative approval.

4. The trust may be dissolved only upon legislative approval.

C. Upon the creation of the trust authorized in subsection B of

this section, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services shall

provide all necessary assistance to the Department of Rehabilitation

Services to identify and transfer all real property held by or for

the benefit of the Oklahoma School for the Blind and the Oklahoma

School for the Deaf to the trust.

D. 1. The Commission for Rehabilitation Services may accept

and receive any and all gifts, donations, devices, bequests, grants

or contracts of any kind for money or property, either real or

personal, for the benefit of the Oklahoma School for the Blind and

the Oklahoma School for the Deaf.

2. The Commission is directed, authorized and empowered to hold

such funds or property outright or in trust, invest or sell the

property and use the principal or interest or proceeds of sale for

the benefit of the Oklahoma School for the Blind and the Oklahoma

School for the Deaf.

3. The Commission shall utilize its best efforts to comply with

the terms of any conditional gift, devise or bequest in fulfillment

of the donor's stipulations and provisions of applicable laws. Any

real or personal property donated with conditions which are at any

time determined to be infeasible to meet or continue may be returned

to the donor, or if the donor is no longer living, if a natural

person, or no longer a legally organized entity, for organizations,

then the property may be sold and the proceeds of the sale deposited

in the Commission's general fund or the property may be further

donated in kind.

Added by Laws 1993, c. 364, § 5, emerg. eff. June 11, 1993. Amended

by Laws 2001, c. 95, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2001; Laws 2001, c. 329, §

10, emerg. eff. June 1, 2001; Laws 2004, c. 543, § 3, eff. July 1,

2004; Laws 2012, c. 304, § 838; Laws 2019, c. 280, § 1, eff. Nov. 1,

2019.